Real Madrid matched the best ever scoreline in the Champions League, their 8-0 victory over Malmö on Tuesday equalling that of Liverpool against Besiktas back in 2007. Curiously their coach was none other than Rafa Benítez! Ronaldo also set a new record for the group stage, his four goals taking him on to eleven, two better than his own previous best! Benzema helped himself to a hat-trick as well, with Kovacic scoring the other goal. Madrid were of course already sure of top spot in their group, and Atlético Madrid and Barcelona also ended as group champions, Saúl Ñíguez and Vietto scoring for the former in a 1-2 win at Benfica, and Messi netting for the latter in a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen. Sevilla and Valencia had to settle for a place in the Europa League though, the Andalusians doing so with an epic 1-0 victory over Juventus, Llorente getting the only goal against his old side. Valencia however crept in through the back door, a 0-2 defeat at home to Olympique Lyon ending any hope they had of reaching the knock-out stage of the top competition. The two will join Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal, who both ended their group stage games with draws to finish first and second respectively in their mini-leagues. Kike Sola and San José (with a penalty) were the scorers for Athletic in a 2-2 draw against Alkmaar, and Bakambu, Jonathan Dos Santos and Bruno were on target for the “Yellow Submarine” at Viktoria Plsen.

Real Madrid will be wishing that they had saved a couple of those goals for Sunday night’s game at Villarreal though, a 1-0 defeat leaving them five points adrift of the top two. To rub salt into the wound, the scorer was ex Madrid striker Soldado! Barcelona though threw away a two goal lead before drawing 2-2 against Deportivo on Saturday, strikes by Messi and Rakitic cancelled out by goals from Lucas Pérez and Bergantiños. Pérez has now scored in the last six matches, only one short of the club record set by Bebeto! Atlético took advantage to move level with Luis Enrique’s side, Saúl and Griezmann netting against Athletic Bilbao after Laporte had given the Basque side the lead. Fourth placed Celta are now just two points behind Madrid after a 1-0 victory over Espanyol, Iago Aspas the scorer there, and Sevilla are up to seventh after a 2-0 win over Sporting, Gameiro coming on as substitute to notch up a brace, the first from the penalty spot. Elsewhere Agirretxe stays one ahead of Lucas Pérez as the top scoring Spanish player after he got the equalizer in Friday night’s game at Getafe, and Charles scored Málaga’s first away goal of the season after Javi Guerra had given hosts Rayo the lead, Duje Cop adding a second later on to also give the Andalusians their first away win of the campaign. (15.12.15)